on Health and Human Resources; and then to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]

____________

A BILL to amend and reenact §16-3-4 and §16-3-5 of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to providing a
conscientious and religious conviction exemption from
mandatory immunizations for school children; requiring a
parent or guardian to submit an affidavit to school
authorities in support of the request for an exemption and to
further submit an informed consent form, to be provided by the
Bureau for Public Health; requiring that a physician who
opines that a student should not be immunized for health
reasons must be duly registered and licensed to practice
medicine in this state; directing the Commissioner of the
Bureau for Public Health to propose legislative rules to
implement a methodology designed to keep track of the number
and identity of all students in each county with exemptions, as well as the justification for each exemption; and providing
a legislative finding concerning informed consent.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §16-3-4 and §16-3-5 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:ARTICLE 3. PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF COMMUNICABLE AND OTHER
INFECTIOUS DISEASES.

§16-3-4. Compulsory immunization of school children; information
disseminated; offenses; penalties. (a)WheneverWhen a resident birth occurs, the state director
ofCommissioner of the Bureau for Public Health shall promptly
provide parents of the newborn child with information on
immunizations mandated by this state or required for admission to
a public school in this state.(b) All children entering school for the first time in this
state shallmust have been immunized against diphtheria, polio,
rubeola, rubella, tetanus, and whooping cough, chicken pox, measles
and mumps. Any person who cannot give satisfactory proof of having
been immunized previously or a certificate from a reputable
physician, duly registered and licensed to practice medicine in the
United States, showing that, in the opinion of the physician,
immunization for any or all diphtheria, polio, rubeola, rubella,
tetanus,and whooping cough, chicken pox, measles and mumps, is
impossible or improper, or sufficient reason why any or all immunizations should not be done, shall be immunized for
diphtheria, polio, rubeola, rubella, tetanus and whooping cough
prior to being admitted in any of the schools in the state:Provided,That a parent or guardian of a minor child who presents
an affidavit in which the parent or guardian, on behalf of the
minor child, objects to the immunization based on a deeply held
conscientious belief or religious belief, the minor child is not
required to be immunized. Additionally, an affidavit form, provided
by the Bureau for Public Health, must be completed, that states
that the parent or guardian, on behalf of the minor child,
understands the benefits and risks of immunizations and the
benefits and risks of not being immunized. This form may be
obtained from the Bureau for Public Health website or local health
departments, except that the Bureau for Public Health may remove
unimmunized students during an outbreak or health emergency. The
student shall not return or be admitted to school until the
outbreak has been resolved and the Commissioner of the Bureau for
Public Health approves the return or admittance to school. (When a
public health emergency has been declared relating to a
communicable disease, citizens identified as being infected with
the declared disease may be subjected to humane quarantine using
the least restrictive means possible, in order to prevent the
spreading of disease. Additionally, quarantine and isolation must
be by the least restrictive means necessary to prevent the spread of a communicable disease to others and may include, but is not
limited to, confinement to private homes.) No child or person shall
may be admitted or received in any of the schools of the state,
except as otherwise provided in this section, until he or she has
been immunized as hereinafter provided or produces a certificate
from a reputable physician, showing that, an immunization for
diphtheria, polio, rubeola, rubella, tetanus and whooping cough has
been done or is impossible or improper or other sufficient reason
why such immunizations have not been done. Any teacher having
information concerning any person who attempts to enter school for
the first time without having been immunized against diphtheria,
polio, rubeola, rubella, tetanus, and whooping cough, chicken pox
measles and mumps shall report the names of all such persons to the
county health officer. It shall beis the duty of the health
officer in counties having a full-time health officer to see that
such persons are immunized before entering school: Provided, That
persons enrolling from schools outside of the state may be
provisionally enrolled under minimum criteria established by the
Director of the departmentDivision of Health so that the person's
immunization may be completed while missing a minimum amount of
school: Provided,however, That no person shallmay be allowed to
enter school without at least one dose of each required vaccine.(c) In counties where there is no full-time health officer or
district health officer, the county commission or municipal council shall appoint competent physicians to do the immunizations and fix
their compensation. County health departments shall furnish the
biologicals for this immunization free of charge.(d) Health officers and physicians who shall do this
immunization work shall give to all persons and children a
certificate free of charge showing that they have been immunized
against diphtheria, polio, rubeola, rubella, tetanus and whooping
cough, chicken pox, measles and mumps or he or she may give the
certificate to any person or child whom he or she knows to have
been immunized against diphtheria, polio, rubeola, rubella, tetanus
and whooping cough, chicken pox, measles and mumps. If any
physician shall givegives any person a false certificate of
immunization against diphtheria, polio, rubeola, rubella, tetanus
and whooping cough, chicken pox, measles and mumps, he or she shall
beis guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be fined
not less than twenty-five nor more than one hundred dollars.(e) Any parent or guardian who refuses to permit his or her
child to be immunized against diphtheria, polio, rubeola, rubella,
tetanus, and whooping cough, chicken pox, measles and mumps who
cannot give satisfactory proof that the child or person has been
immunized against diphtheria, polio, rubeola, rubella, tetanus, and
whooping cough, chicken pox, measles and mumps previously, except
as otherwise provided in this section.or a certificate from a
reputable physician, showing that, immunization for any or all is impossible, or improper, or sufficient reason why any or all
immunizations should not be done, shall beis guilty of a
misdemeanor and, except as herein otherwise provided, shall upon
conviction, be punished by a fine of not less than ten nor more
than fifty dollars for each offense.(f) The Commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health is hereby
directed to propose rules for legislative approval in accordance
with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this
code, designed for each county to collect and record statistical
and identifying data relative to the number of exemptions claimed
under the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, as well as
the justifications for the exemptions and the percentage of
students receiving the exemptions relative to the number of
students who have been immunized, the number of cases of each
disease that has been laboratory confirmed and epidemiologically
linked, the number of cases that are imported, the number of
adverse reactions caused by immunizations that are reported each
year to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), and the
complete vaccination status of cases that have been laboratory
confirmed and epidemiologically linked. These proposed rules shall
also include provisions in which each county must report its
statistical and identifying data to the Commissioner.(g) Health care providers providing vaccinations in the State of West Virginia shall obey vaccine adverse event reporting
requirements under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of
1986, which mandate that health care providers report serious
health problems following vaccination, including hospitalizations,
injuries and deaths, to the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting
System (VAERS). Health care providers in this state must file a
duplicate copy of vaccine adverse event reports made to VAERS with
the Bureau for Public Health.

§16-3-5. Distribution of free vaccine preventives of disease.

(a) Declaration of legislative findings and purpose. -- The
Legislature finds and declares that early immunization for
preventable diseases represents one of the most cost-effective
means of disease prevention. The savings which can be realized
from immunization, compared to the cost of health care necessary to
treat the illness and lost productivity, are substantial.
Immunization of children at an early age serves as a preventative
measure both in time and money and is essential to maintain our
children's health and well-being. The costs of childhood
immunizations should not be allowed to preclude the benefits
available from a comprehensive, medically supervised child
immunization service. Furthermore, the federal government has
established goals that require ninety percent of all children to be
immunized by age two and provided funding to allow uninsured children to meet this goal. The Legislature further finds that the
right to informed consent for a medical procedure which carries the
risk of injury or death is a human right.
(b) The State Director of Health shall acquire vaccine for the
prevention of polio, chicken pox, measles, mumps, rubella,
diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis-b, haemophilus
influenzae-b and other vaccine preventives of disease as may be
deemed necessary or required by law, and shall distribute the same,
free of charge, in such quantities as he or she may deem necessary,
to county and municipal health officers, to be used by them for the
benefit of, and without expense to the citizens within their
respective jurisdictions, to check contagions and control
epidemics.
(c) The county and municipal health officers shall have the
responsibility to properly store and distribute, free of charge,
vaccines to private medical or osteopathic physicians within their
jurisdictions to be utilized to check contagions and control
epidemics: Provided, That the private medical or osteopathic
physicians shall not make a charge for the vaccine itself when
administering it to a patient. The county and municipal health
officers shall provide a receipt to the State Director of Health
for any vaccine delivered as herein provided.
(d) The Director of the Division of Health is charged with establishing a childhood immunization advisory committee, that is
fairly balanced in terms of the points of view of its members and
whose members do not have conflicts of interest with vaccine
manufacturers, or who could financially gain directly or indirectly
from vaccine mandates. The childhood immunization advisory
committee is to plan for universal access, make recommendations on
the distribution of vaccines acquired pursuant to this section and
report biannually to the House and Senate Interim Committees on
Health and Human Resources and the Judiciary as provided in section
four of this article, and tracking of immunization compliance in
accordance with federal and state laws. The childhood immunization
advisory committee shall be appointed by the Secretary of the
Department of Health and Human Resources no later than the first
day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, and shall be
comprised of representatives from the following groups: Public
health nursing, public health officers, primary health care
providers, pediatricians, family practice physicians, health care
administrators, state medicaid program, the health insurance
industry, the Public Employees Insurance Agency, the self-insured
industry, the National Vaccine Information Center, and consumers.
The state epidemiologist shall serve as an advisor to the
committee. Members of the advisory committee shall serve two-year
terms.
(e) All health insurance policies and prepaid care policies
issued in this state which provide coverage for the children of the
insured shall provide coverage for child immunization services to
include the cost of the vaccine, if incurred by the health care
provider, and all costs of administration from birth through age
sixteen years. These services shall be exempt from any deductible,
per-visit charge and/or copayment provisions which may be in force
in these policies or contracts. This section does not exempt other
health care services provided at the time of immunization from any
deductible and/or copayment provisions.
(f) Attending physicians, midwives, nurse practitioners,
hospitals, birthing centers, clinics and other appropriate health
care providers shall provide parents of newborns and preschool age
children with information on the following immunizations:
Diphtheria, polio, mumps, measles, rubella, tetanus, hepatitis-b,
hemophilus influenzae-b, and whooping cough and chicken pox. This
information should include the availability of free immunization
services for children.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide an exemption
from mandatory immunizations for school children on the basis of
conscientious or religious belief. The bill would require parents
to assert their beliefs in an affidavit and, additionally, require
such parents to complete an informed consent form, to be provided
by the Bureau for Public Health, before the exemption could apply.
Further, the bill would remove unimmunized students from school in times of emergency or epidemics. Lastly, the bill contains
provisions in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act of
1972.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.